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After Grannie Fang was done cooking dinner, the family went to the main hall to eat.
Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun were both having dinner at Master Lu and Nan Xiang’s place, so they didn’t have to wait for them.
Grandaunt was no longer here, but with Granduncle present, the atmosphere at the dinner table was still good.
Except that one of Granduncle’s eyes was swollen and they found it hard to ask what happened.
After dinner, Gu Jiao helped Grannie Fang clean up the dishes, Little Jing Kong went to walk the chickens, and Xiao Liulang went back to the study to continue studying the book which he thought was unlikely to be the national book of the State of Yan.
Even with translation and annotation, it wasn’t so easy to comprehend the contents of the book.
It took Gu Jiao more than a decade to get from elementary mathematics to advanced mathematics, and while it certainly had something to do with the progress of education, it was also because the educational resources in her previous life were more extensive and systematic. Right now, Xiao Liulang was crossing the river alone by feeling the stones on the way.
Arithmetic wasn’t included in the imperial examinations, so he used to spend very little time on arithmetic. At this moment, he was like a liberal arts student who suddenly got an advanced math textbooks.
Gu Jiao: Starting tomorrow, I'll give my husband six walnuts to eat.
The family did their own business while waiting for Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun to return home.
In the past, the two of them would arrive home at around the third quarter of Xushi(7-9 pm), and the most late they had come home was fifteen minutes before the period of Xushi.
When it was only fifteen minutes before the period of Xushi, Yao shi could no longer sit still.
Whenever she heard footsteps outside, she would turn her head to look.
When the footsteps passed by, she would sigh in secret.
Another quarter of an hour passed, and finally there was the movement of the carriage at the gate.
Little Jing Kong had already taken a bath and was lying on the bed. When he heard the noise, he quickly crawled out of bed, put on his shoes and ran outside, "I'll do it!"
Nights during the fifth month were cool.
Wearing his thin little bedclothes, Little Jing Kong pulled open the courtyard gate and looked up. "Huh? Big brother!"
It was Gu Changqing.
A carriage behind Gu Changqing slowly drove by; it turned out that the movement of the carriage they heard earlier came from it.
Gu Changqing came on horseback. When he entered the alley, he dismounted and led the horse forward instead.
Gu Changqing looked down at the little guy who made a special trip to open the gate for him. He was suddenly in a good mood. He looked at his tiny bedclothes and asked, "Are you about to go to bed?"
Little Jing Kong nodded, "En." Then he shook his head again. "I'm waiting for big brother rother Yan and big brother Xiaoshun!"
Gu Changqing turned his head to look at the end of the alley, "Have they been studying this late lately?"
Little Jing Kong shook his head, "No, it’s only today that they are this late!"
"Are brother Yan and brother Xiaoshun back?" Yao shi asked from inside the courtyard.
Everybody in the family often matched Little Jing Kong’s manner of speaking.
Little Jing Kong looked back and said, "It's big brother!"
These days, Yao shi's attitude towards Gu Changqing was much more relaxed than before, except that there was no filial piety between them. Both of them just treated the other as a familiar guest.
"Are you worrying about Ah Yan?" Gu Changqing looked at Yao shi and asked.
The two of them had something in common when it came to Gu Yan. Yao shi said with a sigh, "Yes, they were never this late before. I'm worried that they might have been delayed on the road… It didn't even rain today."
Gu Changqing took down the prey hanging from the saddle, put it on the stone table in the yard, and said to Yao shi, "I'll go look for them."
Yao shi gave him a grateful look, "Will it delay you tomorrow…"
"No." Gu Changqing replied.
Seeing how he answered so surely, Yao shi thought it must really be nothing. She put down her hanging heart and said, "That's good, that's good."
"I’ll be going." Gu Changqing didn't even have time to say hello to his sister and brother-in-law as he turned out of the house.
Gu Jiao watched Xiao Liulang finish a math problem, then she noticed that it was getting late. She went out and asked, "Yan’er and Xiaoshun haven't returned yet?"
Yao shi responded, "Shizi went to find them."
"Big brother has been here?" Gu Jiao looked at the prey on the table. Little Jing Kong stood atop the stone bench, fiddling with the rabbits and pheasants inside the sack. Gu Jiao went over and picked him down. She then fetched water from the well, washed his hands and carried him back to his room, "Go to sleep, don't come down again."
"Okay." Little Jing Kong obediently answered.
"Haven't they returned yet?" When Gu Jiao passed by the study, Xiao Liulang asked her.
Gu Jiao said, "Not yet. I'll go take a look. You stay at home and watch over Jing Kong. Don't let him run around."
Average people couldn’t look after Little Jing Kong. After all, whenever she wasn’t around, this child would become very naughty.
Sure enough, as soon as Gu Jiao left, Little Jing Kong slipped out of the west room.
Xiao Liulang stood at the doorway with a straight face, looking at him condescendingly.
Little Jing Kong thought for a moment and made a final struggle, "I have to pee——”
……
Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun’s craftsmanship lessons took place in the north of the capital, which was neither a rich nor a poor area. It was a beautiful place with pleasant scenery.
To get here from Bishui Alley, there were two roads one could take. One was to cross Chang'an Street and go to Baishi Street. This road was more prosperous, and was the road Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun often took.
The other way was to go from Xuanwu Street to the official road at the end, where the more one went, the fewer people there were, but the distance was closer.
The two of them used to take this road at first, but when they went back and found that it was too dark here, they stopped going this way for fear of an accident.
But to be sure, Gu Jiao and Gu Changqing went both ways.
Gu Changqing went to the official road while Gu Jiao went to Baishi Street to look for them.
At this time, Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun were indeed on Baishi Street. The reason why their journey home was delayed was because the wheels of the carriage were broken.
There happened to be a teahouse nearby. Liu Quan asked the two of them to sit in the teahouse for the time being, while he went to find someone to repair the carriage.
Two people sat in the teahouse in boredom. When they saw someone selling candied haws, they remembered that Little Jing Kong and Grandaunt love to eat them, so they went to buy some.
"But how do we give it to Grandaunt?" Gu Xiaoshun asked.
"We’ll just send it to her!" Gu Yan said.
"Oh." Gu Xiaoshun asked for more sticks as soon as he thought it was feasible. "Grandaunt can't come out often. Buy a few more sticks, she can eat one per day."
Gu Yan nodded and reached for his purse.
At that moment, a thief rushed over, bumped into Gu Yan and took Gu Yan's purse away.
Gu Yan touched his waist, "Aiya! My purse!"
The two people hurriedly put down the candied haws in their hands to chase the thief.
They had only taken a few steps when someone apprehended the thief. A tall and powerful figure trampled on the thief, causing the people around him to applaud.
When the duo came to retrieve the stolen purse from the thief, Gu Yan suddenly felt a pair of eyes that was hard to ignore looking at him.
He looked up and saw a gallant man sitting in a private room on the second floor of a restaurant.
The man, who had resolute facial features and tall and sturdy stature, looked straight at Gu Yan.
When their eyes met, he smiled at Gu Yan and raised his cup.
Gu Yan frowned.
He didn’t like this kind of smile. It made him uncomfortable.
"Found it, let's go!" Gu Xiaoshun said to Gu Yan.
"En." Gu Yan ignored the man and went back to the teahouse with Gu Xiaoshun, but Liu Quan hadn't come back yet.
The two people continued to wait in boredom. Suddenly, the young hero who had caught the thief came up to them and cupped his hands in greetings. He said, "My family’s young master wants to make friends with the two young masters. I wonder if the two young masters can honor my young master with their presence?"
"Who is your young master?" Gu Xiaoshun asked.
"That one." The young hero pointed to the restaurant across the street.
It was the man who raised his cup and smiled at Gu Yan just now. Gu Yan furrowed his brows tightly and turned his face away.
Gu Xiaoshun looked at the direction the other party pointed at and said, "I don't know him. I don't want to be friends."
The young hero was momentarily stupefied, obviously not expecting the other party to refuse so clearly, "I guess both of you two may not know the identity of my young master. My young master is actually..."
"Ah! The carriage is ready!" The sharp-eyed Gu Xiaoshun saw the carriage outside. He pulled Gu Yan and said, "Brother Yan, let's go!"
The duo got into the carriage without looking back, not giving the young hero the chance to talk any further.
They thought they could finally get home safely, but the carriage broke down again halfway.
Liu Quan said, "Forget about fixing it for now. I'll go hire a carriage to send you guys home first."
As soon as he spoke, an incredibly luxurious carriage pulled up next to their carriage.
"Is your carriage broken?" At the same time a low chuckle of a man sounded, the carriage curtain was lifted, revealing a strong countenance.
Gu Yan felt uncomfortable all over when he saw it was him!
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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